Two Lives, One Death
by radioactivealchemist
Summary: Two worlds. Two lives. If you die in one world, what happens to you in the other? This is the mini-sequel to "Two Worlds, One Love" and will probably make less than zero sense if you don't read that story first. 2x1, 4x3/3x4, & 13x5
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N**_: _I originally wanted to write the canon universe portion of _Two Worlds, One Love_ in the same timeline as the anime series and make it fully half the story, however that proved to be too difficult (especially with Trowa's disappearance and amnesia). Instead, it ended up in that formless void of dead time where so many fics seem to take place, and played a smaller part. But there was a portion of the story directly involving the events of the series that I didn't want to leave unwritten: Treize's death._

_This fic starts in the middle of episode 47. The dialog has been directly pulled from the anime series, though it's been modified and a lot has been added in order to make things make sense in the context of what happened in _Two Worlds, One Love_. The first chapter is basically an altered summary of the end of the series.  
_

* * *

**Two Lives, One Death**

Duo, Trowa, Quatre and Wufei gazed down at the wreck of the Peacemillion, lodged in Libra's main cannon. The main threat had been neutralized, but the mobile dolls remained. Quatre was relieved to hear from Sally that everyone aboard was all right.

"We'll board Libra and take it from within, destroy the mobile doll system, and demand the White Fang's surrender," Quatre promised her. "And we've got to find Heero and Relena."

"So we're going in? Great!" Duo exclaimed, then saw Wufei was drifting back - and then he took off in the opposite direction, back towards the battle. "Wufei! Where the hell are you going?"

"I'll leave this to you guys," he said with gritted teeth, and left.

"What's up with him?" Duo asked, surprised.

"Just let him go," Trowa advised.

"It's probably important, or he wouldn't just leave us like this," Quatre said, though he wondered. But there was no time for speculation - they needed to finish this before things took a turn for the worse. "We should head for Libra."

* * *

"Treize! When I'm done here..." Wufei shouted as he fended off the mobile dolls attacking him. He didn't need to save up his anger; he had plenty to spare.

"Wufei. What are you doing here?"

"Don't play dumb!" Wufei accused him as he cleared a spot atop one of their battleships. Treize followed, curious.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Treize answered, which only served to make Wufei angrier.

"You know what you've done!" Wufei shouted as he took a shot at Treize; he was forced to return fire to defend himself.

"I'm afraid I really don't, so please explain." Wufei was clearly angry about - angry enough to return to wanting to kill him. And that meant he was very dangerous, because Treize knew how Wufei got when he was angry; there was no reasoning with him. He'd been lucky when they'd met before, to sort out their issues in this world. If Wufei had not come unarmed, he suspected he might have suffered from quite a bit more than just a punch in the face. But an enraged Wufei with his Gundam?

His plan seemed to have worked. All he had to do now was play along.

"You have bad aim. I'm over here," Treize taunted him. "Are you going to answer my question?"

The only answer Wufei gave was to attack.

"Shouldn't you be worrying about Libra right now? This battle will continue until that threat has been eliminated," Treize told him.

"They can handle it themselves. I'd kill Milliardo myself if I could, but I have to leave him to Heero," he spat. "But _you_... you cheating bastard!"

Treize smiled. "Oh? Is that what this is about? Milliardo and I? But surely you've noticed that I'm fighting _against_ him right now. And besides... how can I cheat on you here if we agreed we're not together in this world?"

"That doesn't matter!" Wufei howled, and renewed his attack. Treize fought back, but not as well as he could have. It was only partially not wanting to hurt Wufei - he had enough of that in store for him, of a different kind. "Now fight me!"

"You're right," Treize said. "I was wrong. So let's settle this the way we have before," he said, and jettisoned his rifle to bring out his beam saber. "But can you really do this? Can you really kill me?"

Wufei didn't reply, only gritted his teeth and gripped the controls tighter. He knew the answer already - no - but he had to find out. Even if it meant he was wrong. Even if it meant finding out that the worlds were closer than he wanted them to be.

"Even though I'm better than you here, I won't go easy on you," Treize promised.

Wufei came at him.

Treize knew he could not provoke Wufei enough with just that alone; he needed to add something else to the mix.

"Wufei, tell me... why do you fight?"

"Why do _you_ fight?" Wufei demanded back. "How many people have died because of you? Is it to satisfy your ego? How many people have died _for_ you?"

"Do you want me to tell you?" Treize asked. "As of yesterday, 99,822 people."

"What?"

"Lady. How many fatalities today?"

Lady Une's face materialized on his screen -the last time he would see her, if everything went according to plan. "We've confirmed the deaths of 82 of White Fang's forces, and 105 of our own."

"I see. Give me their names later today," he ordered her, looking pained.

"Yes, sir."

"You bastard!" Wufei hissed.

"I remember everyone who's sacrificed their lives in battle. Noventa, Ventei, Darlian, Walker, Otto, Bunt. How could I forget about them?"

"How could you... and what about those you've killed? Everyone else?" Wufei demanded.

"I can only grieve over the lives lost while fighting," Treize responded.

"Then what about Melian? What about her? She fought against your soldiers - and they killed her! You killed her!"

"Then she did not die in vain," Treize said simply, although he didn't know whether Wufei felt that way or not. "So..."

He took a deep breath, and came straight for Wufei. Wufei had no time to think, only to react - to bring his beam trident up and straight through the Tallgeese.

"Wufei..."

Wufei was immobilized by shock. "Treize! How could you?" he whispered, horrified, and pulled back; but it was already too late.

"Wufei... I love you," he said simply. "Now it's up to you to finish this. I told you before that I would end the war for you if I could... and this... this is the only way... I knew how."

"No! No! I won't let this happen! There has to be another way!" Wufei cried out.

Treize closed his eyes, and the world exploded in fire.

* * *

Wufei bowed his head and let the tears come as he slammed his fist down on the console. "Damn you... I wasn't expecting to win! If you... if you aren't there..." he tried to swallow the knot in his throat, but there was already another in the pit of his stomach. "How could you do this to me?"

He stayed put as the battle raged, attacking any dolls that came close - until they too stopped. Lady Une declared the surrender of the World Nations and the broadcast Heero and Milliardo's pointless fight. What else was there to do? Though he only watched it with half an eye, he did notice that Heero's buster rifle was missing. If they had any chance of destroying Libra before it fell... searching for it might provide a much-needed distraction, now that the mobile dolls had ceased functioning. As much as he wanted to curl up and go to sleep, to find out what had happened to Treize in the other world, if he was still all right... there were still things that needed to be finished. He took off.

After he'd delivered the buster rifle - just in the nick of time, too - Wufei only stuck around long enough to see Heero destroy the falling block from Libra and come back safely, and then he took off before anyone had time to ask him if he was all right or anything like that. He didn't need sympathy right now. He needed to find a place where he could rest, go to sleep and wake up in the other world - although he dreaded what he might find there.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Three Weeks Earlier**_

It was a difficult decision but time was running out and he had to know, had to act. If Wufei - or Quatre, or Trowa - thought about their troubles in the other world they never mentioned it, but Treize couldn't simply sit back and not worry about what was happening. He was waging a war, and he needed all the extra time he could get to plan strategies for the final battle looming on the horizon. And if he could act here to affect things there, then all the better.

Treize wasn't entirely sure how the idea had entered his mind, though he knew the when - Quatre had mentioned something about Milliardo being aboard the Peacemillion - causing him to recall that _particular_ night and the conversation they'd had. He hadn't spoken to Milliardo himself, he'd been too busy, but Treize knew him well and he could guess at what was to come.

Treize foresaw two possible ways to end the war - his death, or Milliardo's. Everything, however, hinged on one single question: did dying in one world meant you died in the other?

* * *

Treize had never had the need to hire a shadow child before so he wasn't sure how it was done. There was Duo, but Treize had no way of contacting him directly and he didn't want to get him involved. He knew clients of his who had used them before so he asked around and got the information he needed.

It was in that way he found himself meeting with one of them in a private room at one of the nicer restaurants in the city. Treize knew he had absolutely nothing to be afraid of - he had the coin, after all, not to mention his magic - but that did not stop him from being nervous. Even as a shadow child, and someone he had never met before in either world, Duo had seemed fairly... harmless, and he suspected anyway that Duo was not the norm as shadow children came. That became even more apparent now that he had reason to meet another of them.

The shadow child did not say anything when he came in and sat down, and Treize assumed that it - he couldn't assume anything but - knew why he was there and no explanation was needed.

"This may seem an odd request, but I need someone killed. Not odd for that, of course," he rambled a bit in his nervousness, "but because I don't exactly know who they are, or where they might be found." As he said this he realized that it really wasn't so odd after all - like someone who had done him wrong, but he had only seen their face and didn't know his name. They probably got requests like this all the time, so of course they would be able to find him. "I know that he's a man of rank - a count, I believe he said - and in his mid-twenties. He's tall, about two inches taller than I am, with blue eyes and extremely long, pale hair." Being unsure whether he went by Milliardo or Zechs in this world, Treize left out a name, and he hoped his description was correct. "That's really all I know, and not for certain. I also need this done as soon as possible, as soon as you can find him. Within a week, or maybe two at the most. Is that possible?"

"We will find him and take care of him for you," the shadow child replied, and Treize was oddly shocked to hear a female voice emanating from behind the veil. Their loose black robes belied nothing of gender. He had not thought that there were female shadow children as well; but then again, the healers - their antithesis - did not train women, and shadow children were usually thought of as genderless anyway.

"And the price...?"

"There will be an added fee for the search," she replied.

"That's fine."

She named a figure. Whatever shadow children were, they weren't cheap, but he did trust them to get the job done. "You've brought the down payment?"

Treize counted the coins out onto the table for her to see. When he was finished, she gave an almost imperceptible nod.

"You will be contacted when we find him to confirm his identity, and then for the remainder of the payment when it has been done."

That was all; Treize left hurriedly, eager to get outside again into the light and fresh air and away from there. It wasn't until he'd gone almost two blocks that he stopped and took a deep breath. They would find Milliardo, kill him, and what happened then would decide how the war ended.

* * *

Four days later, Treize went to his study after lunch to get to work and saw that someone had been there. The envelope on his desk was blank, no name or address, and he stared at it for a few moments while he tried to decide if he should ask Trowa or his housekeeper who had brought it to the house.

Treize decided he didn't want to know, and sat down to open it. Inside was only a small photograph, and a note; the confirmation she had spoken of. He barely had to glance at the photo to see that yes, it was Milliardo. The note instructed him to draw an X on the photo if it was the wrong person, or to leave it alone if it was correct; and where to deliver the envelope.

He could have sent Trowa out with it, as he trusted him not to open it, but he would rather not have any of them involved so Treize went out himself on the pretense of seeing a client.

By tomorrow he would have his answer.

* * *

The next day Treize returned to pay the remainder of the price for the assassination, and then he sat back and waited for night when he could return to the other world and see what had happened. He promised himself that because time seemed to flow differently in the two worlds he would give it a few days there to make sure, especially since things were so uncertain with the emergence of the White Fang.

It took only two more days for Milliardo to do exactly the opposite of dying: he took over command of the White Fang and declared war on Earth. Treize wasn't sure if this was because Milliardo was pissed about dying in the other world or if he would have done it anyway, but he wasn't about to ask him and reveal his involvement - though he figured Milliardo would suspect him anyway.

Treize went about it in one of the only ways he knew how - he challenged Milliardo to a duel in space. The stage was set for the final battle, and he moved himself about the chessboard expertly.

"This is Treize Kushrenada, the World Nation's sovereign. I wish to challenge Milliardo Peacecraft, leader of the White Fang, to a duel! I am eagerly awaiting your reply. Let me remind you that the decision you make will also be interpreted as your solution to this war."

"My answer... is no," Milliardo replied. Treize had expected as much, that his opponent - and former friend - would not be persuaded to end this so easily. "I'm not an OZ soldier. Chivalry is meaningless to me. I'm supporting the people's wish for a revolution! We can't decide the destiny of the colony's citizens with a simple duel!"

"I see. You've made the right choice."

"Treize! We will eliminate everyone who stands in our way!"

"Milliardo. As you're aware, the Earth is backing us. We will not retreat, because I love the Earth!" Treize declared in response. A duel would have been his preferred choice, but he'd planned for several different contingencies so it did not worry him yet.

"That's the Treize I know," Milliardo said with a smile.

"By the way... since I have you attention and it seems things are about to get hostile, may I offer you a bit of advice first?"

"You can offer, but I probably won't listen."

"I know very well that you intend fire your main cannon at me, and I do not intend to dodge it or back down. Take that how you will - but on the off-chance that you miss..."

"I won't," Milliardo interrupted.

"But if you _do_, feel free to tell Wufei about that night we... spoke together. I'm sure that would be enough to get him to come after me _for_ you," Treize said with a humorless laugh as he charged toward Libra, alone.

"Prepare to fire the main cannon! Set the target to the general's suit and MO-2!"

Treize smiled, and continued towards his death. He hoped Milliardo would not miss, and he was completely ready to throw himself into the range of the cannon's fire if it was close enough, but he had to cover all his bases just in case something unexpected happened, like a malfunction. He'd sown the seeds; it was up to Milliardo to reap them - and for the Gundam pilots to clean up afterwards.

"If you kill me now, you'll have earned your victory. Go ahead and fire! For the peace of Earth and space!" Treize challenged him.

"My enemy is the Earth, and you're its representative, Treize!"

Treize continued to charge forth as the cannon fired, and he readied himself for the end... only to be thwarted by the sudden appearance of Lady Une in the Wing Gundam, who pushed him out of the way. Such was his shock that he had no time to get back into the cannon's blast range; he could only watch as the cannon took down a good portion of his soldiers and grazed MO-2. Back-up plans were handy to have after all.

"Lady... why did you do that?" He was more bemused then angry, at the moment; after all, he was still alive - and this meant that, if Milliardo listened to his advice, then Wufei would be his final opponent after all.

"One must fight the battle to understand its beauty," Une replied. Treize smiled, and agreed; a duel with Wufei would certainly be more beautiful a spectacle than getting shot down by an emotionless cannon blast.

He gave his order. "Attention all units: destroy Libra!" They spread out at his command, and began the intricate dance of battle.

_**End Flashback**_


	3. Chapter 3

Treize woke suddenly. It was dark, still the deepest part of the night. His dream was over. What was left was... nothing, a curious void. Did he feel guilty for doing something like that to Wufei? He must have, but there was nothing left over from that world but memories, like a movie. Just the images - no emotions, no thoughts, only what he'd seen and nothing of what he'd experienced.

With a sigh, he turned on to his side and pulled Wufei - still asleep - into his arms. Until he woke from that bad dream, it was all Treize could do to comfort him and try to let him know that he was still there, that one world's end was not the end of everything.

Did he want to know what had happened after he was gone? How it had ended - with Wufei and his friends saving the day, or with the destruction of Earth? Although he hadn't been around to witness it, he trusted that Lady Une had followed his orders and surrendered after his death. What remained... He resolved not to ask, but to listen if Wufei or Quatre told him about it. After all, he no longer belonged to that world, so what did it matter? The outcome couldn't be changed. He'd made his decision. Milliardo had followed the "advice" he'd been given, and it was over.

All he had to face now was Wufei, but that could wait until morning. It took him a while to fall back asleep, and he slept without dreaming.

* * *

Treize always woke up before Wufei in the mornings. He liked it that way, being able to just lay there on the bed and watch Wufei still asleep beside him as the morning light began to filter in through the curtains and the city began to wake up. He watched Wufei's face; usually his expression was peaceful, as if nothing were happening out of the ordinary and his dreams were pleasant no matter what might be happening in the other world, but today there was no mistaking the pained looking on his face, there by a nightmare of Treize's making.

He wanted to take that pain away; he regretted it already. With a sigh, Treize reached over to stroke the side of Wufei's face with the back of his hand, know that he'd wake from that nightmare soon... and that he was not going to be happy about it.

Wufei stirred, pushed his face up against Treize's hand and nuzzled it, still mostly asleep. Then, after another few moments, he opened his eyes suddenly and stared at Treize.

"I'm sorry," Treize said softly before Wufei could accuse him of anything, whether it be what Milliardo had told him or for taunting him into doing the deed himself. He wasn't sure quite what to expect - would Wufei cry, or get angry, or both? For those first few moments, it seemed as though he would cry - but then he sat up and exploded with righteous fury.

Treize lay back and let him go, not really listening to his words because they didn't mean anything to him any more. Wufei could rant and be angry about what had happened there all he wanted, but Treize no longer belonged to that world.

After a few minutes of this, of yelling and dragging Treize up to a sitting position and shaking him, then beating on his chest, Wufei finally descended into tears while Treize just smiled and held him - all he could do until Wufei calmed down enough to listen to _his_ side of the story.

"Done?" Treize asked quietly as Wufei finally wiped away his tears with the back of his hand and separated himself from Treize's chest. "I'm sorry," Treize repeated again, because he needed to. "If things had gone the way I'd planned originally, Milliardo would have done it with Libra's cannon, and I wouldn't have had to say those hurtful things to you - or have you find out about something you didn't need to know. Now, I don't know exactly what he told you, and I don't care - but you should know better than that. And besides, we agreed to stay apart in that world. Now I've removed myself and you don't have to worry - and I presume that carried out my promise to you and ended the war."

"I don't care about that!" Wufei protested. "Why did you even take that risk, without knowing...? What would have happened if you... if here..."

"Who said I didn't know?" Treize asked him. "I'm not so stupid that I would just blindly rely on my intuition to take care of something as important as that. No - I hired a shadow child to kill Milliardo in this world to make sure what would happen before making any plans for my end there."

"How... just how carefully did you plan this out?" Wufei asked, disturbed by his admission.

"As carefully as I could, to make sure all my bases were covered," he replied. "I don't know how much dying here had to do with Milliardo's actions there, and I'm not sure he even suspected I was behind it, but..."

"Well, we'll never know," Wufei said bitterly. "He's dead."

"Disappointing, but expected considering his actions," Treize murmured. "And the Earth...?"

"We were able to prevent Libra dropping," Wufei told him. "A portion of it started to fall, but Zechs must have changed his mind at the last minute because he destroyed the power source in the block- which broke up the block, but took him with it."

"I see. That's good, I suppose." He changed the subject suddenly. "If it makes you feel any better, he practically forced himself on me, and I got absolutely smashed afterwards."

"I don't care," Wufei replied, but something in his voice told Treize that he _did_ care, and that helped - a little. "But how can you be so... unconcerned?"

"Should I be concerned? Now that I'm not there, it doesn't matter to me any more," Treize reminded him. "But I suppose it's because I don't remember. I don't remember any of my emotions from that world. They're gone. Remembering that world is like watching a movie - I'm just a spectator, not an actor any longer. I don't have a connection to it any more."

"I still don't like that -"

"You'll get over it," Treize assured him, and mussed Wufei's hair. "After all, you didn't owe me anything there, and if none of this had ever happened - if I hadn't found you here, if you hadn't forgiven me, if Milliardo hadn't been involved at all - I think the outcome would have been exactly the same."

"Do you really think so?" Wufei asked.

"Yes. I don't think it's that easy to change the course of things in either world simply by knowing about the other. I might have given you your freedom convinced you to stay here even if we hadn't known each other. You might have challenged me during that battle if you had not forgiven me. Quatre might have decided to buy Trowa's freedom without knowing him; Duo might have made Heero his host without -"

"What?" Wufei interrupted him.

Treize feigned innocence. "You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"That Duo is a shadow child."

"What? No," Wufei said, looking worried. "How did _you_ know that? You didn't - he wasn't the one you hired to..."

"No, of course not. I haven't met him; Heero told me that when he was here, even though I assumed as much when he said that the coin had come from Duo," Treize lied, realizing he'd probably said too much. "I'm sure he still doesn't know about me - and besides, it doesn't really make a difference now, does it?" he asked, trying to calm Wufei's fears. Wufei didn't need another thing like that to worry about now.

"I'd still prefer he didn't know," Wufei grumbled, "Even if I don't intend to see him again."

"Why's that?" Treize asked.

Wufei just shrugged. "I don't see any reason to hang around with them any more - after all, we were only together to fight, and now that the war's over..."

"But they're still your friends," Treize pointed out. Wufei said nothing, just turned away from him and got out of bed.

* * *

"You're all right!" Quatre said with a sigh of relief when Treize and Wufei came into the dining room for breakfast. Treize merely nodded in reply.

"You were injured, weren't you? Are you all right?" Wufei asked Quatre as he took a seat.

"I'll live," Quatre replied, "I mean..." he added, catching himself and remembering who he was in the presence of.

"It's fine," Treize assured him as he joined Wufei and Quatre at the table. "What happened?"

"Er, well... I kind of got... stabbed by Dorothy."

"Skewered," Trowa murmured as he poured their drinks.

"That too, I guess. Skewered by a fencing foil," Quatre said with a laugh. "It sounds worse than it actually is. I'll be fine. MO-2 is a mess and I don't want to take up space, so I've already made plans to be transferred back to my family's colony along with as many other wounded as we have space for," he explained.

"Admirable," Treize said, "but I suppose that's to be expected from you."

"Well, I'm sure we'll be providing plenty of resources and funding for the cleanup and rebuilding efforts - both in the colonies and on Earth," he explained. "I'm just glad it's all over." There was a moment of silence, then, "By the way, Wufei, where did you disappear to afterwards?"

"Nowhere in particular. It's none of your business, anyway."

Quatre frowned, and Treize thought about rebuking Wufei with a tap on the shoulder, but he refrained.

"What are you going to do now? You should at least come and visit us on my family's colony," Quatre offered. "You didn't even say goodbye before leaving."

Wufei shrugged, and was saved from answering as Trowa re-entered the room bearing breakfast and began to serve them.


	4. Chapter 4

_**One Month Later**_

Even though he didn't want to, Wufei felt he somehow owed it to Quatre to go visit him like he'd asked - if only to get him to stop being so bothersome about it. Quatre had only mentioned it twice more since Treize's death in the other world, but to Wufei that was more than enough. In some form of trying to spite him, Wufei didn't tell him that he was coming, or that he'd arrived on the colony until two days after the fact. It didn't do anything to except to make Quatre ask why he'd bothered to pay for a hotel when he could have been staying at Quatre's place for free.

Wufei didn't have a comeback for that, of course.

* * *

"I'm glad you decided to come," Quatre greeted him at the door. He seemed fine, almost completely recovered from his run-in with Dorothy.

Wufei grumbled something unintelligible in response, followed by "no problem" as Trowa came up behind Quatre and nodded a greeting to him.

"I think Duo and Heero are by the pool, if you want to go say hello," Quatre told him.

Wufei balked. "You didn't say _he_ was going to be here."

"Well, you didn't tell me you were coming," Quatre replied with a smile. "Besides, they've been here for a week already, hanging out while they figure out where to go and what to do."

"I'm not going to be staying for long," Wufei made sure to point out, but his statement went ignored.

"Let's go to the living room - I need to sit down," Quatre said, and gestured for Wufei to follow.

Wufei noticed Quatre wince as he sat down. "Does it still bother you?"

"Not too much. If I'm on my feet too long it starts to hurt, but other than that... I'm pretty much healed up, though I'm not supposed to do any 'strenuous activities' for another month and half at least." He laughed again. "I don't really have to worry about that here, though. I've got people to do everything."

"So what's going on with your family's business, then?" Wufei asked; he wanted to talk about anything other than the war, really.

"It's being run by a trust board - mostly other family and people who've been with the company a long time - until I'm of legal age to take it over, but in reality, probably until I'm comfortable and know enough about what I'm doing to take the reigns," Quatre explained.

"Are you going to go to university?" Wufei asked; it wasn't that he was really interested, but Quatre seemed happy to talk about it. The future was looking more pleasant than the past, after all.

"Maybe. I mean, I'd like to, but not right now - not until everything settles down, at least. What about you, Wufei? Do you have any plans for here on out?"

Wufei shrugged. "I'm not sure. Like you, I guess I'd rather wait until everything settles down to make a definite choice. I'd love to go back to school, though, finish my education, get some degrees... you know."

"Well, if you ever need any money for tuition or recommendations, please don't hesitate to ask," Quatre said, and Wufei responded by shaking his head.

"No. I don't need any help, and I don't want to owe you anything," he said stubbornly, and Quatre just smiled.

"But I'm here if you need it," he offered as Trowa re-appeared - with Heero and Duo in tow, making Wufei cringe internally.

"Hey! Glad you could make it, Wu!" Duo greeted him with his usual exuberance, but drew the line and stepped back when Duo tried to hug him. "What have you been up to? Taking off all of a sudden like that afterward... you really had us all worried, you know? But I was glad to hear Treize is okay over there."

While this admission may have slipped past Duo's radar - either intentionally or not - it didn't slip past Wufei, and he was immediately on the offensive.

"Who told you that?" he demanded immediately, angrily.

Duo responded as though he hadn't noticed his faux pas. "Huh? Well I asked Quatre and he -"

Wufei's rage was momentarily redirected as he turned to berate Quatre. "You _promised_ not to tell -"

"Whoa. Whoa, Wufei, wait," Duo interrupted him, finally seeming to notice what he'd done. "Leave Quatre out of this. He didn't tell me anything I didn't already know."

Wufei turned back to him, glaring daggers.

"Just calm down, okay? Sheesh. There's no reason to get upset."

"Then who was it? Who told you?" Wufei demanded angrily, seeking his target. Heero was trying to make himself scarce, knowing he was part of the issue; Trowa had taken up position beside Quatre to defend him.

"Chill, okay?" Duo said, motioning for him to calm down. "_Nobody_ told me. If you're gonna be angry, be angry at me because I'm the one who didn't listen to you and tagged along with Heero."

Even with his mind clouded by anger, this massive discrepancy - namely, that he had never _seen_ Duo there - did not escape Wufei's notice and it threw him into confusion, which got him even more riled up because he was in no state to think things through clearly. Instead of trying to argue or fight it, he did the only other thing he could come up with - he fled. The other four pilots were left standing around giving each other uneasy glances about what might happen next.

"I'll -" Duo began, but Trowa cut him off.

"You should let him cool off first," he advised.

"I know that," Duo griped. "I'll talk to him later, get this sorted out. ...Sorry I almost got him angry at you, Quat," he apologized.

"Don't worry about it. He's touchy about it no matter what, even though Treize is gone from this world now," Quatre replied. "Like Trowa said, just give him some time, then go talk to him. I'm sure he realizes that once you're fine with it and aren't going to poke fun at him or whatever he's worried about, he'll come around. Just be honest with him."

* * *

Duo gave it a few hours, until late afternoon, before he went looking for Wufei. The estate was large, so there were plenty of places Wufei could be hiding, but Duo knew the habits of his 'prey'. You didn't get far as an assassin if you couldn't find your target, after all. Wufei had the disadvantage of not knowing the layout of the place, but he'd had plenty of time to wander. Duo found him exactly where he figured he'd be - in the library.

He tried not to sneak around so that Wufei knew he was there, though he still had to clear his throat to get Wufei's attention. The grumpy Chinese pilot looked up from his book and glared at him.

"What do you want?"

"That depends. Are you going to be civil and talk to me? Or at least listen to what I have to say?"

Wufei kept his gaze leveled at him and didn't move, which Duo took for a 'yes' to at least listen. "Look, I don't know what your problem is with me, but you need to get over yourself already. I don't give a fuck if you're sleeping with Treize over there - yes, I know everything, even that - but so what? I don't care what your beef was with him here, either. And I'm not going to laugh at you about it or whatever you were expecting me to do. So just man up and accept the facts."

After Duo's little speech, Wufei didn't quite know whether to be angry, disturbed that he'd known all along, even about his relationship, or relieved. He settled for something in between disturbed and relieved, with just a touch of anger, before remembering Duo's earlier comment which had thrown him into so much confusion.

"But how did you _know?_" he insisted on asking again.

Duo rolled his eyes. "I told you already, I was there with Heero. You didn't see me because I didn't want you to. Look, you _do_ know I'm a shadow child there, right? I was hiding in plain sight the whole time - in Heero's shadow."

"I found out after the fact, but yes, Treize told me -" His eyes widened in realization, and he began cursing out the absent Treize. "He knew all along, didn't he? That you were there?"

"Yeah. We chatted," he said with a shrug. "Enough for me to know that at least you weren't messing around with Treize over here, but I guess I didn't have to worry about that after what happened in the end, right? But I really am glad that he's okay over there, at least so Quat and Tro still have a place to stay."

Cursing Treize out about what he'd done was one thing; venting to someone else about it was another. Even though he didn't really want to be telling it to Duo - well, now that he knew everything else, why not that? And they were already talking about it.

"He planned it, the bastard. Everything. He had Milliardo killed in the other world first to see how it would affect him here. He planned his death, and he had a backup plan - having Milliardo rile me up - for when Libra's cannon missed."

"Gotta give him some credit - at least he was thorough," Duo said with a shrug; the news didn't seem to faze him.

"I just don't understand why he doesn't _tell_ me these things!"

"Probably because he cares about you so much," Duo pointed out with a smile. Wufei returned it with a withering glare, which also had no effect on Duo. "But seriously, he probably just doesn't want to get you upset over nothing - which you seem to be able to do just fine on your own, anyway. Anyway, just chill! Stay here and relax for a while."

"I'm not staying," Wufei said, finally closing the book he'd been reading and standing up. "I only came because Quatre asked me to drop by. I've got other things to take care of." With that, he walked past Duo and out of the room to go find some peace and quiet somewhere else.

* * *

True to his word - and to Quatre's disappointment - Wufei took off the following afternoon. Quatre knew better then to bother him about it in the other world. He had better things to do then question him or try to track him down. For Wufei, the separation between the two worlds was almost complete, and he liked it better that way. If he didn't have to hang around the same people in both worlds, that was even better.


End file.
